Dear Old Gamma Phi

Daily, Elle is the honored guest for several private concerts. I’ve told her all about me and some moments I just run out of things to talk about (and I don’t think she wants to hear about QuickBooks). I sing to her all sorts of songs like When we all get to Heaven, Amazing Grace, Ice Ice Baby, Lavendar Blue, and my favorite songs to sing are old Gamma Phi Beta songs. Last week Aunt Rebecca came by and we talked about how sweet some of those songs are.

Here are my favorite GPhi songs to sing to her.

To you my love, I’m offering my heart,
you know your momma Mindy has loved you from the start.
No words can ever express, how much you mean to me,
the time will never come when you will cease to be my heart’s desire,
the one that I adore, the one that fate has always meant me for.
Through happiness or storm or stride, I love you darling all my life.

And this song is a perfect lullaby

Good night, good night little Ellie,

till we meet in the land of dreams.
Neath the crescent moon day will come too soon, and in the pale moon bean.
Good night good night, little Ellie,

slumber on till the dawn is nigh
Send a prayer up above for the one that you love, good night good night Ellie-Belle.

Speaking of Gamma Phi, Elle is very excited about meeting all you gals in March and I can't wait to give Lindsay, Lauren, Abi, Kodi, Marcie and everyone else a big hug!

seventh week celebration

My dearest Elle,

Today you are 7 weeks old. These have been the craziest 7 weeks of my life, no doubt the craziest you’ve ever experienced as well. You are growing so strong and as of your last doctor’s appointment, 2 weeks ago, you weighed 9lbs 3 oz, and measured 21 ¾ inches long, putting you in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. You are long and lean, just like a Johnson.

From my perspective you are an angel baby only crying when you are tired, hungry, over stimulated, have gas, or in need of a diaper change. You sleep excellently, loving your 10:30am and 1:30pm nap time and sleeping very well through the night about 7 hours. It’s not your fault I’m tired all the time – my internal clock just has not reset itself allowing me to go back to sleep after the 1am, 2am, or 3am feedings. You certainly are a party girl loving those early morning feedings.

You bring so much joy to many people from your daddy and me to your aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents. What a gift you truly are.

I can’t wait to watch you continue to grow, loving every time you share your smiles and giggles with me, although you don’t give them too freely yet. I'm ready for the day when you can’t help but to smile. My prayer for you, my daughter, is that you come to know Jesus as your Savior early in life, have a life-long love of learning, laughing, giving, loving others, and that you marry a man that loves you like your daddy loves me.

In honor of your 49th day, I’ve made a list of 49 things I love about you, but I’ll only share the top 7 since you are just 7 weeks old:

1) I ate too much smile
2) The feel of your head against my cheek
3) After bath fuzzy hair
4) Named after my beloved grandmother
5) How much your daddy JP loves you!
6) Your baby smell
7) At 3am, when you are crying for food, once I walk in the room and pick you up, you stop crying because you know I’ll take care of you.

Can't wait for the next 49 days (hopefully you'll sleep from 7pm-7am then!)

Love you forever,
Mommy

Road Trip!

Miss Elle and I made our first road trip last week to OKC. Even though tax season is poking its head into my dad's schedule, he was kind enough (or crazy enough about Elle) to fly down to Dallas and drive the two of us home! We had a great trip. Elle got to meet her namesake, her beautiful great grandmother, Lucretia Ellyn. The two hit it off perfectly.

As you can see, Elle just melted into Granny's arms. Granny's gentle touch has soothed many a JoDee, Mindy, Brian, Rebecca, Laurie, Geoffrey, GiGi, and now Elle. It was an honor to introduce Elle to my grandparents. Grampy Max also was quite taken with his little great granddaughter. He thinks she is beautiful, and Elle can't wait to play with him like he does with her cousin GiGi.

GiGi was nice enough to share her mommy with Elle. Aunt JoDee got to love on our sweet cuddle bunny. JoDee remembers from the day of Elle's birth how cuddly she was and still is today!

We love Oklahoma City and are looking forward to our next visit!

Boomer Sooner!

Boomer Sooner, Go OU! Beat the Gators!

Elle and I wish we could be there to cheer on our Sooners, but we're glad we could send one representative!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009!
We are loving this 78 degree January day and savoring every moment as tomorrow’s forecast is 48 degrees and Monday’s is 38 degrees.

My 2009 resolutions:

Help Elle to sleep through the night

Loose the remaining 18 pounds of baby weight

Rekindle my love of reading

Join a mom’s Bible study at the church

Daily have a good attitude, even when I lack sleep

Go on a vacay by this summer!

Be a fab mom and wife


It’s a funny thought to think that Elle, someone so new in my life was born last year! Today during our walk, we talked to our neighbors that have 2 small children and learned that 2 weeks ago they added twin boys to their family. Just 3 doors down is someone else who is up at 3:30am feeding.

We wish you all a healthy and happy 2009.